60 day Vista trial over now what??? Can anyone advise please?

I bought a new latop just over two months ago and it had a 60 day Vista Basic trial on there. I like the Vista program as it does what I need and is easy to use, but now my trial is over I can't do anything in Word (well anything Office actually!).

I used to use XP Pro which was good but my old laptop died, hence the new one.

Does anyone know what I can do with my laptop now because as far as I'm concerned it's pretty much useless to me at the moment, ok I can get the internet but I need it for more than this and I can't afford to pay for Vista proper just yet.

I'm not sure if I have my old XP disc at home (I'll have to check) but can I just reload this onto my new laptop if I have got it and if I haven't got it, what then?